


The Work

by potentiality_26



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 00:37:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11520846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: Merlin blinked.  “Wait a minute,” he said, forming a suspicion.  “Are you jealous?”Harry snorted.  “Who would I be jealous of?”How utterly right Harry was to be dismissive- everyone in Merlin’s department was young and gangly, and couldn’t have held a candle to Harry even back when he was young and gangly- warred with the extra something in Harry’s tone that suggested Merlin was actually on to something.The aftermath of a project.





	The Work

**Author's Note:**

> For the tumblr prompt: "Wait a minute. Are you jealous?" 
> 
> Not Brit-picked.

If Harry had been surlier, Merlin thought, he might’ve seen it coming.  

Not that he’d been around Harry much or vice-versa that last week.  He and the rest of his team had been hard at work, day and night, on a new rainmaker model. Testing was finally finished and all designs, prototypes, and logs were now in Arthur’s hands.  Merlin just wanted to see Harry, sleep, and forget that there was any such thing as an umbrella. 

So it was to Harry’s house that he went.  It was dark when he got there, and late, so he opted first for sleep.  He cleaned up enough that Harry wouldn’t kick him out of bed and crawled in beside him.

He slept soundly, and woke alone, which wasn’t unusual in itself.  It was a chilly morning, so he pulled on a robe and padded downstairs.  That was when he first detected the other- more metaphorical- chill in the air.

No one could passive-aggressively make breakfast quite like Harry. 

It really was a surprise.  He and Harry had rather been ships passing in the night recently, but Harry had been a helpful ship.  Leaving out meals, bringing him tea, covering with Arthur when he was running late for one of the dozen other things he had to do. Busy as he had been, Merlin would have felt Harry’s absence had those things _not_ been done.  He would have- eventually- detected that Harry was cross with him.  As it was…

Merlin folded his arms, hovering close to the kitchen. “You’re cross with me,” he said, detecting it now.

“No,” Harry said, but the way he flipped that omelet said differently.  

“You _are_.”

Harry opened his mouth to protest, which would have gotten them nowhere, so it was just as well that Merlin’s tablet- sitting innocently on the counter where he left it the night before- received a message.  “It’s from my department,” he told Harry as he read it.  “They need me to come back in.”

“Do they,” Harry said, without noticeable inflection.

Merlin blinked.  “Wait a minute,” he said, forming a suspicion.  “Are you jealous?”

Harry snorted.  “Who would I be jealous of?”

How utterly right Harry was to be dismissive- everyone in Merlin’s department was young and gangly, and couldn’t have held a candle to Harry even back when _he_ was young and gangly- warred with the extra something in Harry’s tone that suggested Merlin was actually on to something. Maybe not a _who_ , then- maybe a _what_.  “My work?” Merlin said, hesitating.  He and Harry had been friends long before they become lovers, and Harry was as married to his work as Merlin was, so Merlin had assumed himself safe not to give Harry his usual speech about how distant he became in the midst of a major project.  “Did you think I’d change?  Did you-”

“No,” Harry said.  Then he sighed, relented.  “Yes. But not in the way you’re probably thinking.”

“Good.  Because if you thought I would suddenly never want to leave your side-” Merlin cut himself off.  In fact he did sometimes never want to leave Harry’s side- but it didn’t keep him from his other responsibilities.  He couldn’t imagine Harry ever thinking otherwise.  

“I didn’t.”  Harry’s tone was flat, any previous softening no longer in evidence. Merlin freely admitted that that was his fault.  Harry said what he felt rarely; implying that what he admitted to was foolish never went well.  “I just thought… you might let me in.  A little more.”

“Oh,” Merlin said quietly.  He really hadn’t thought that would be appreciated, let alone necessary. 

Harry always listened when Merlin talked about his work, but he was never able to completely hide his lack of comprehension.  Harry was good with technology- as good as Merlin, in some areas- but his skills were largely intuitive.  The minutiae of how things worked escaped his interest.  Merlin had always assumed that Harry tried to care for his benefit only.  And maybe that was true, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t also feel… shut out from a very important part of Merlin’s life.

And Merlin was wary of implying that Harry’s feelings were foolish again, but he really, really had no reason to feel that way.

“I never thought I _had_ to let you in.  Because you… you already are.  You’re what I think about when I’m working.  What you need, what you’ll… find useful.  What will keep you safe out there.”  It was so sappy once he considered it in those terms- but, though Merlin had never thought himself an artist, Harry had been a kind of a muse from the first time Merlin clapped eyes on him. 

Harry had turned off the stove when it became clear that they were getting into it, and that was good because the food would’ve been burning by then.  Merlin closed the distance between them, which suddenly didn’t seem too wide.

“I don’t like you to see the false starts in the middle, that’s all.”  He let his hands come to rest on Harry’s hips.  “I like to have a certain… look of omniscience.” 

“I like that too,” Harry said quietly.  “But I don’t prefer you to slave away in silence.  I feel a little helpless when you-”   

“You help,” Merlin said, knocking his forehead against Harry’s gently.  “Don’t ever think otherwise.”  He settled closer still, close enough to smell the toothpaste on Harry’s breath, and sighed.  “I do have to get back to work, though.”  He let more regret creep into his tone than he normally would, figuring that would at least be a start.  

“I suppose so.”  Harry sighed too, but there was a light back in his eyes that had been absent. 

Merlin felt safe to tease him: “You’re sure you aren’t jealous of my techs?  They are so enthusiastic, and there are so many.”  

Harry growled softly, eyes still dancing, and pushed Merlin back against the counter.  “I’ll show you enthusiasm.  Unless…”  His mouth slid against the skin under Merlin’s ear.  “You have to go _immediately_.”

“I don’t.”  Merlin hardly recognized his own voice for the urgency.  The tech department- the tech itself- really couldn’t hold a candle.  It, like breakfast, could wait. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [tumblr](http://potentiality-26.tumblr.com/).


End file.
